When I listen to certain noises, they appear as sound waves or ripples and sometimes flashes of light. What I see is not based on colour pigment but on energy. Music and even frequencies make geometric shapes, which can be fractal or symmetric. Depending on the mood, the visuals are in black and white or very colourful, psychedelic even. When a particularly beautiful shape pops up, I grab pen and paper to sketch it. A collection of the most stunning music I have seen goes into my drawings. Some music is simply and literally divine, without a doubt. When you spot the divinity in others’ art, that means divinity is in you as well. It’s a direct reflection of what you are able to create.

Understanding how to deal with perceiving sounds in such way took me years. The “other” art I was introduced to as a child was music. I started to play the piano at a very young age and then went to a private high school that specialised in classic and baroque music education. From an early age on, I was listening and analysing complicated music as well as producing it on the piano and in choirs. The strict way of teaching and the fact that by the age of 12, I had a daily school schedule that often went from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m., made me very stressed. Add to that the fact that in my grade I was one of the tallest and slimmest girls and then there were braces and glasses as well…. I started to escape from the pressure. Unlike my fellow students, I chose not to delve in drugs, anorexia or self-harming. I chose art.

My artistic endeavours started when I was a toddler and painted a lovely family portrait on the walls of my parents’ flat. I had always had a thing for abstract and surreal art, seeing things in a very different way than limited perception allows most to see the world. Whenever life got stressful, I turned to art. As a teenager, I would spend the whole night drawing and painting and my room’s walls were plastered in my artworks. My friends and family admired the creations and also I thought that were actually really good. An important life lesson I learnt here was that I could turn sorrow, pain, anger, confusion and disappointment into something beautiful and brings joy to others.

I decided against studying art, but chose a close relative of it –interior design. I like when things are practical. Over the years working in the field, I noticed that it was lacking the process of creativity and implementing personality, so I left and looked for more opportunities to do what I do best.

My purpose in life is to soak up all the polarising, beautiful, painful, magnificent and soul-destroying things around me, interpret them and transform them into a piece of art, which in return inspires others to express themselves. I want to take away the fear of artistic expression from people and a huge factor in achieving that is looking at the process of creation. Every process is different but nonetheless just as important as the result. There must be a thorough process when creating, one that allows setbacks and mistakes. Think about all the wonderful inventions and artworks, which were made in error!

If I were to give advice to an artist is would be the following: Always take the long way home. Surround yourself with inspiring people and visit amazing places and then give your all producing something that adds immense value to someone’s life. See the potential that painful situations offer you and appreciate the powerful energy they give you. Transform, catalyse and reinvent that energy so that it can be used to help others.

Give it your heart and soul because that’s the essence of your art and it is what can truly make someone else pick up that pencil and start drawing.